SOLD OUT - SUNDAY JAZZ LUNCH: ELAINE DELMAR with the Brian Dee Qrt Sunday 25th March

Elaine Delmar -Vocals, with

Brian Dee  ---Piano
Simon Thorpe ----Double Bass
Matt Home -----Drums
Jim Mullen---------Guitar

• "One of the ageless, evergreen singing stars that we have … as beautiful and talented as ever… she’s marvellous!"
-Michael Parkinson, BBC Radio 2

• "Truly defines the word class …"
-Humphrey Lyttelton, BBC Radio 2

• "Among the multitude of good jazz singers in Britain today, there is not one who can surpass Elaine Delmar..."
-Dave Gelly, Sunday Observer
 
 Elaine's musical path has taken her in many directions. She has made numerous radio and television broadcasts and concerts singing with small groups, big bands and symphony orchestras around the world, starring with Michel Legrand, Stephane Grappelli, Andy Williams, Benny Carter and Herb Ellis to mention but a few. Equally at home in a concert hall, night club or theatre, Elaine thrives on communicating with her audience. In 2006, Elaine was nominated for the Radio 2 'Artist of the Year' in the BBC Jazz Awards.

ELAINE DELMAR at RONNIE SCOTT'S, LONDON (Oct 2009).

Rating: 4/5

"This week, Ronnie Scott's 50th anniversary celebrations have been focusing on veteran singers, with Salena Jones, Madeline Bell and the octogenarian Jon Hendricks all taking their turn on the bandstand. Wednesday night belonged to Elaine Delmar, an artist who straddles jazz and cabaret and who tends to be taken for granted partly because she makes the art of swinging a tune seem effortless.

Wikipedia insists that she turned 70 this year, but on the strength of this performance you can only assume that the people's oracle got her date of birth wrong by a good 30 years. While her voice may have lost a little of its sheen in the upper register, those glowing, cello-like phrases (shades of Sarah Vaughan) are as seductive as ever.

James Pearson's house trio - heard to stunning effect on their new album, Swing The Club - provided the propulsion as Delmar swooped and soared through a set that mixed jazz standards with less conventional fare, including the elegant Cy Coleman-Carolyn Leigh love letter You Fascinate Me So. Delmar also revisited her West End past in Ain't Misbehavin', a number that found its way into the stage show Bubbling Brown Sugar.

On Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered Delmar's voice was at its most lustrous. No More Blues - Jon Hendricks's translation of Chega de Saudade - worked well enough too. Delmar and the trio stepped up a gear or two on It's All Right with Me, with Pearson, the drummer Chris Dagley and bassist Arnie Somogyi close at her heels. Earlier, singer and band had proved that even a ballad as overfamiliar as In a Sentimental Mood could glow in the dark."

-Clive Davis